The Story

Dowel has been diagnosed with Stage II Refractory Hodgkin's Lymphoma. It is an atypical form, but her doctors are optimistic about her new treatment plan! She is hoping to be selected for a clinical trial for immuno-therapy, which would start in mid-March, but once that ends she will have to pay COMPLETELY out of pocket ($15k+) for the next treatment phase of a stem cell transplant. Her portion of medical expenses have already exceeded $5,000.

Dowel will be turning 29 on April 18th. Unfortunately, with this treatment plan that means she will be spending that day in the hospital. Dowel is such a fun-loving, high-spirits, bad-ass woman that we are sending her into treatment the only way we know how - with a party! We will be having a birthday-benefit on Saturday Feb 25th, at The Eli Whitney Museum, located in Hamden, CT. The purpose of the benefit to raise the funds to cover the medical expenses associated with her upcoming treatment. Support for the benefit itself is coming from generous vendors and donors whom Dowel worked closely with in her time at Eli Whitney and Whole G Bakery (including: Small Kitchen - Big Taste, Caseus, Black Hog Brewery, Whole G Bakery. Thank you, thank you, thank you!)

There is a suggested donation of $50 for attendance. Donations can be made on this site, through Venmo (@dowelrahacancerfund) or in-person at the event! Please RSVP on the Facebook event or at [email protected]by Wednesday, February 22nd. If you are unavailable to join us the night of the event, we appreciate any contribution you are willing to make.

FAQs:How is she feeling? She is feeling well! A little bit of fatigue, but that is very normal and expected.

What is the treatment? The treatment involves two phases. The first is (hopefully) the trial which involves two immunotherapy drugs working together to essentially put her into remission. As long as the first phase is successful, she can move onto the second phase. The second phase is the stem cell transplant. This is necessary because despite reaching remission with immunotherapy, it has proven to be a very temporary solution.

What is the preferred method to donate? To make sure every dollar goes to Dowel’s medical expenses (and not into fees or processing!), please bring check (made out to: Dowel Raha Medical Expense Fund) to the event. You can also send an email to the address above to get a mailing address. All donations are being placed into a bank account used for the payment of her hospital and doctor’s bills.